Poll: 61 Percent Support Banning AR-15 Rifles

Sixty-one percent of voters favor a ban on the AR-15 rifle — the same kind of weapon used in the shooting deaths of 17 people at a South Florida high school, according to a Harvard CAPS-Harris poll.

Thirty-nine percent of those polled say adults who pass background checks should be able to buy the rifle, according to the survey. The poll results were posted by The Hill.

The survey was taken Feb. 16 and Feb. 19 – just days after the murders at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Here are the survey breaks down:

• 36 percent believe banning assault rifles would do the most to curb school shootings
• 32 percent say bolstering school security would do the most.
• 32 percent said an increased commitment to mental health issues would do the most.
• 57 percent of voters say school shootings are pushed by a lack of attention to mental issues and not a lack of gun control.

"The public wants a solution not just to guns, but to school safety and that means better mental health programs, greater security and some gun restrictions as well," said Harvard CAPS-Harris co-director Mark Penn.

"They want action on all fronts."

The poll surveyed 1,934 voters. A margin of error for the survey was not given.

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